MICHAEL Gove’s shock return to frontline politics as Environment Secretary has been met with disbelief and anger by campaigners and opposition politicians.

Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, even suggested Gove had been appointed to the Cabinet because Sun proprietor Rupert Murdoch had demanded it.

Gove previously found himself at odds with environmentalists when as schools minister he tried to remove climate change from the curriculum in England.

Dave Timms, a senior political campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said Gove’s past environmental views had “been confused at best.”

“One minute he’s claiming to be a shy green, the next he’s threatening our wildlife by calling for EU nature protection rules to be slashed.

“Neither the EU referendum nor the General Election have given a mandate for environmental protections to be weakened as we leave the EU. In fact it’s clear the public want stronger environmental standards.

“Young people, who voted in droves at the General Election, care passionately about climate change and the state of the environment. The Prime Minister and Mr Gove can choose to listen to their voices, or ignore them at their own cost.”

Caroline Lucas, the Green party co-leader and MP, said it was hard to think of "many politicians as ill-equipped for the role of Environment Secretary as Michael Gove”.

North of the border, Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskel suggested there might be method behind May's decision to bring Brexiteer Gove back into the top team, and give him one of the trickiest briefs in government.

"Given the scale of disruption the Tories' Brexit will cause Scotland's hugely important farming and fishing sectors, it's understandable that an embattled Prime Minister has given this poisoned chalice to one of her former rivals.

"To see right-wing extremists such as Michael Gove back in the Cabinet underlines the need for EU environmental responsibilities to come straight to Scotland so we can safeguard them.

"The fact that it took court action to drag the Tories into responding to their failure on air pollution demonstrates that their instinct will be to water down environmental protections and pay little attention to scientific advice." 

NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick was more optimistic and said he hoped Gove would visit the Royal Highland Show in Ingliston on June 22 to engage with the Scottish Industry.